Prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson, who The New
York Times has described as "a national voice" for the movement,
was arrested on Saturday night while protesting last week's
police-shooting death of a black man in Baton Rouge.

McKesson was live-streaming the protest when police came up from
behind him and arrested him. He had been marching with other
protesters along Airline Highway in Baton Rouge.

One protester can be heard telling McKesson to "film the white
line" on the road to prove that the protesters were complying
with the police's demands to not stray into the road. McKesson
says more than once that there is no sidewalk that protesters
could have been marching on instead.

A major with the Louisiana State Police told Maya Lau, a
reporter with The Advocate, that McKesson and the other
protesters had "clearly" been blocking the roadway.

"We respond to their actions," he told Lau in a
video later posted on her Twitter account. “We welcome the
protests. We want them to voice their opinions. That's what we're
here to do, to make sure they're safe and they're able to do
that.”

At least two journalists were reportedly arrested at some point
in the night.

Before his arrest, McKesson tweeted:
"If anything happens tonight, it was caused by the police.
Everybody has been peaceful tonight but them. #BatonRouge."

A confrontation apparently erupted between riot police and Black
Panther activists during the protest — several of the
activists were carrying shotguns, which is permitted under
Louisana's open-carry laws, according to Reuters. A police
spokesman said several arrests were made and two weapons
recovered.

Still, many took to social media to condemn the police's
response during the protest. More than one protester
described being "ambushed" by police as they were demonstrating.

It was the second night of demonstrations in the city protesting
the shooting death of 37-year-old Alton Sterling there last
week.

Sterling's death was captured on video and has sparked outrage
across the country for the officer's apparently excessive use of
force — Sterling was pinned to the ground by police when one
officer took out his gun and shot him point-blank in the chest.

Sterling's death came two days before another black man, Philando
Castile,
was fatally shot during a traffic stop outside St. Paul,
Minnesota. His girlfriend filmed the aftermath of the shooting,
and has insisted that Castile complied with the police officer
who pulled them over before he was shot four times.

Both incidents have prompted a wave of protests across the
country, from New York City and Rochester, New York, to
Washington, DC, and Nashville.

During one demonstration in Dallas on Thursday night, a
lone gunman killed five police officers and wounded seven
others in what was the deadliest day for US police officers since
9/11. At least 21 officers were injured in protests in St. Paul
on Saturday,
ABC reported, and over 100 protesters were arrested.

In Rochester, another activist was arrested as she was
giving an interview. Her arrest was also caught on camera and has
since gone viral.